Three Brothers of Mine
by darknessarrives165
Summary: Hamato Yoshi's death was tough on all the turtles, especially Leonardo. After several months, the turtles journey on a new mission, to unravel a strange signal from the Shredder's old lair. Leonardo, the new Sensei, and leader, of his team, fears his instinct that things will not go smoothly that night will come true. Then, something goes wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Darknessarrives165 here! So, here is a TMNT story based on the 2012 universe. This idea may or may not have been used yet, but this is in my own way! This takes place after the first 4 episodes of season 5 *SPOILERS! Maybe*, so after Karvaxas was "defeated". Anything that happens in new episodes as I write this story may or may not be incorporated, so it could totally, and probably will, branch off from the new TMNT episodes. (I can't wait to see baby turtles!** **)**

 **Anywho…oh right….**

 **Disclaimer: I do not in any way or form own the TMNT ninja turtles**

It was a quiet night on the streets of New York. The wind blew in soft breezes. Occasionally, a small paper flew across the street with the breeze. Overlooking the streets of New York were four beings. Four ninja turtles, to be exact. And they were focused on one specific building across from their rooftop. The blue masked turtle, Leonardo, was talking in a low, commanding voice, giving his team instructions on the plan for that building. His thoughts were only half focused on the building, but he was more concerned whether his team understood the plan or not. After finishing his speech, the leader looked over his team and asked, "Ok. So you guys understand the plan then? No need to go over it again?" He then sternly looked at the youngest member of the team. The orange banded turtle, Michelangelo, gave him a sheepish smile.

"C'mon bro. I was listening this time! I promise!" The turtle exclaimed as he jumped off the wall he had been sitting on.

The eldest looked at him before giving a brief nod. He turned to look at his other two siblings, Donatello and Raphael. The purple masked turtle looked at him with his chocolate eyes and nodded briefly, before going back to look at the building. The red banded turtle huffed and tore his eyes off of the building with an annoyed look on his face. He glared at Leo with his emerald green eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever! Let's just go already!" He pulled out his sais and was ready to jump off of the building when Leonardo stopped him.

"I'm serious Raph. Do you understand the plan? I want it followed correctly, without any screw ups!" He said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "We don't know what it is that Donnie's machine picked up, but it had a high energy spike. We don't know what it is capable of doing, and I don't want us to find out. Knowing it's coming from Shredder's old lair means it's not good."

"Ooh! What if it's just a cappuchino machine, like the one at that one restaurant! I love cappuchino's! Guys! We should totally get one!" Mikey said excitedly. Leo sighed and pinched the space between his eyes. He sure loved Mikey's happy-go-lucky attitude, but tonight was not the night for this. He had a bad feeling, a very bad one that something was going to happen. The blue banded turtle wished that they didn't have to do this that night, and wait for the next night so that hopefully that bad feeling would go away, but he didn't want to risk waiting. Whatever it was, it was definitely not good. "Mikey, I highly doubt it's a cappuchino machine. There's no way something that gives off high energy readings is due to something like that."

"But...can we get one then...?"

"Wha..? Y-yes yes whatever. When we get back home."

"Don't whatever me! You promise?"

"...Yeah, I promise."

"WOOHOOO! Donnie! As soon as we get home, you better start working on that machine!"

Donatello looked up at the sound of his name. "Mikey, you don't even drink coffee. Why do you want a cappuchino machine?"

"Well, you can make hot chocolate in it, can't you?"

As the orange and purple banded turtles were bickering over the machine, Leo tuned them out and replayed his plan in his mind. Yeah. It seemed perfect. The plan shouldn't fail. It has no holes in it.

So why did he feel so worried?

 _When we get back home._

 _Yeah...I promise._

Those words he told Mikey, they seemed like a lie for some reason. Would they get back home? Not only home, but get home safely? To the safety of their lair? Back to Mast-

 _Master Splinter is dead._

Leo cringed.

These words hit him hard. Yes. He was dead. It had been several months since the death of their beloved sensei and father. It had been several months since they beat Karvaxas, since Splinter said his goodbyes to everyone, even to Karai. Yet, every time they went on patrol, he would still feel like they would soon be home. Back to their father. Just like old times. And every time, he would remember, and the truth would hit him again and again, like a slap to the face.

 _Master Splinter is dead._

The death of Hamato Yoshi had been hard on everyone, but no one felt it more than Leonardo had. Leo knew something was wrong as soon as his father began speaking about passing on, and how the blue banded turtle would have to take his place. Though no matter how worrying that was, he had decided to push it to the back of his mind. The turtle knew they should not have split up to fight the super Shredder, as his instinct told him something was bound to go wrong, but he still obeyed what his father said. The rush back to the WOLF building after April called Donnie seemed like a blur, and Leo mentally kicked himself in that moment as he drove back as fast as he could. Upon looking through the telescope, he felt his blood freeze as he screamed in fear for the rat. And seeing the falling body of his beloved father was forever burned into his memory. Despite knowing they would not reach their father in time, the turtles had run as fast as they could to try to catch him before he hit the hard ground. But they were not fast enough. Even if they had been, Spinter would have been dead. The massive stab caused by Shredder was fatal. He blamed himself so much after that.

Immediately after his father's burial, Leonardo felt devastated. But there was nothing else he could do. Things eventually had to go back to how they used to be, minus the rat. They just needed to be strong. He needed to be strong, for his remaining family and friends. However, Yoshi's warning about the Shredder being alive brought back the burning hate for that man, or rather, mutant. And when Leo and his brothers came face to face with the Shredder, that hate turned into a burning loathing for that putrid excuse of a being. Delivering the final blow to Shredder by cutting off his head was what finally brought relief to the blue banded turtle. He had never killed before because it had always been unnecessary, and he never had wanted to kill. But this had been an exception, to protect his family, friends, and everyone else in New York. So when the useless head piece clanked against the ground, and Shredder's lifeless eyes stared back at him, Leo held no sympathy.

It had appeared that the death of Shredder had also brought a huge feeling of relief for the rest of the Hamato brothers. It was definitely not the death part that made them happy, no, and his death had not been all for revenge. The ex-human named Oroku Saki, or "the Shredder", had died so that New York could live peacefully. So that everyone could be safe. Though they had sustained many injuries, they would heal, But the hole in their hearts from the death of Yoshi, would last.

Time had proved to be a big healer. The introduction of Karvaxas had been a huge distraction from the sadness they had been feeling. After finally being able to properly say goodbye to Master Splinter, all four turtles felt the hole in their hearts healing, though saying goodbye still hurt. The turtles had mostly healed from that traumatizing experience, and everyone was mostly back to their old selves. Occasionally, though, they would remember their father, and a bit of sadness would overcome them, and sometimes some tears were shed.

This was how Leo would feel when he remembered there was no Splinter waiting for them back at home. Gosh how he missed that gentle smile on his father's face...

 _Maybe it really had been my fault…_

Leo sighed and shook his head. Maybe he really should listen to that instinct of his tonight and just go home. After all, whatever it was, it could probably wait one more day. The eldest turtle was about to call off the mission until he noticed his immediate younger brother was missing.

"Guys! Where's Raph?!" He asked his two youngest brothers, whom were still arguing about the cappuchino machine and where it would be placed. They looked around and also noticed that Raphael was missing.

Sounds of fighting could suddenly be heard coming from the inside of the old Shredder building.

"Of course. OF COURSE!" Leo angrily shouted and the three turtles jumped down from the rooftop towards the building. The nagging feeling suddenly got stronger, and began to eat away at his brain. As they got closer, the fighting died down and his blood froze, fear overtaking his body. He prepared himself for the worst. A dead Raphael. However, as they jumped through the conveniently open windows, weapons in hand, they found an amused looking Raph, dusting his hands off. Bebop and Rocksteady were unconscious on the floor.

"What took you guys so long?" He asked in a satisfied smirk. The blue banded turtle lowered his weapon and sighed for what felt the 100th time that day. It was a sigh of relief and of anger which made his blood circulate again. He walked towards his hot-headed brother and gave him a push.

"What were you thinking, Raph?! Coming inside here all by yourself?!" He gestured around the room. "You don't know who could have been in here. You could have been ambushed!"

The green-eyed turtle's smirk left his face and was replaced by an annoyed growl. He forcefully pushed the blue-eyed turtle back. "Back off, Leo! While you were off in la-la land, and Mikey and Donnie were arguing about who knows what, I decided to come in here and actually get something done!" Raph shouted, already feeling his blood boil. Geez. Why didn't Leo ever praise him when he did something good?

"I told you to specifically follow my orders-"

"Well your orders were to come in here, shut down or take this device, while beating up any bad guys. I don't remember you saying we had to go to daydream land with pitiful looks on our faces!"

Leo's nostrils flared. He shut his eyes and took deep breaths to calm himself. "Raph, I don't want to argue with you right now. Let's just find machine so Donnie can hopefully analyze it back at the lair." He then turned to Donnie. "Donnie, where does your scanner say the energy is coming from?"

The purple masked turtle looked at his scanner. "Um, it appears it is coming…..right….below us?"

"DUDES!" An excited voice yelled. The turtles looked up to see an excited Mikey standing next to what looked like a trap door. "I didn't know the Shredder had a basement! That must be where the energy thingies are coming from!" He opened the door and jumped down with a "Booyakasha!"

"Mikey!" Leo scolded him for not being careful before jumping down.

"It's all good, my turtle dudes!"

Leo rolled his eyes and motioned for Donnie to jump down through the trapdoor. Before Leo got the chance to go next, he was twisted around by the shoulder and was face to face with angry emerald eyes. Apparently, Raph was not done.

"How come you never appreciate anything I do! I just got rid of these goons for us and you're not even grateful?"

"Raphael. I told you, that I'm not in the mood to do this with you right now," He said cooly, the uneasy feeling beginning to creep up on him again. "I just want to find this thing and get back to the lair. Whatever problem you have with me, we can settle it back home." But just as Leo expected, Raphael only narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth even tighter.

"No! You listen to me right now Leo! Everything I try to do, every action I take to help us, is always seen as a "wrong" in your perfect little eyes. We are not perfect little Leo's that never mess up anything! We are not, and we never will be-"

"I am not perfect!" Leo snarled. "And I never said you had to be like me. I just told you that I wanted you guys to follow my plan, so that everything could go smoothly tonight!"

"And it has gone smoothly! I got rid of the problem! You should at least be grateful!"

"But what if it had not? Huh?! What if something bigger was waiting for you and something had happened to you when you came in here by yourself-"

"But it didn't! Get that into that dumb brain of yours! IT. DIDN'T." The hot headed turtle suddenly threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, "Gosh! No wonder Master Splinter died from your stubborness! At least now he can have some RELIEF FROM YOU!"

Mikey and Donnie had been staring up at the two through the open door ever since they jumped down. They knew better than to interrupt their fight as long as it was only verbal. But at this moment, they prepared themselves to jump back out and get in between their older brothers, in case a physical fight broke out.

"I..." Leo started, but he found himself at loss for words, all anger suddenly leaving. His lower lip quivered just a bit as he struggled to find something to say.

"I..."

But what Raphael had said was true. His stubborness really was the reason their Sensei died. He had been too stubborn to listen to his instinct which had been yelling at him to not split from Splinter. He ignored it, and therefore the rat master died. He could have been saved...

"I-"

"Well, well, well. Lookie here. Looks like we got ourselves some turtles!" A familar voice said, a hint of amusment in his voice. The turtles whipped around to find a recovered Bebop, Rocksteady, and some old footbots blocking their only exit. It had been Bebop who had spoken. Raph and Leo immediately took out their weapons. Donnie and Mikey did too and were about to join their oldest brothers, until the trapdoor shut tight, locking the two youngest brothers down below.

"Da! It was not wise for turtle freaks to come here," Rocksteady stated as he took a step forward and held up some sort of machine gun. "But whole purpose was to lure turtles out of sewer and to here for ambush with fake signal. Real machine not down there, but here!" He pointed behind him, where there was a huge device of some sort that the brothers had not noticed until now. "Now we use machine to destroy mutant turtles!" He was then smacked on the face by Bebop, who sighed and said "Shut up! You were not supposed to give away the plan fool! Ugh, you know what? Forget it." He snapped his fingers and footbots surrounded the two eldest turtles, and from the clanging and frying circuit noises down below, the two guessed Mikey and Donnie had also encountered a similar problem.

A trickle of sweat fell down Leo's head. Sure, this was Bebop and Rocksteady, and footbots they were dealing with here, nothing too serious (and since when did the footbots listen to these two if the Shredder was dead?), but there was something about that machine that was off-putting. This was definitely not the creation of these two.

Licking his lips, the leader of the group exclaimed, "What is the purpose of you doing this? You know Splinter is dead. The shredder is dead. Rhazar is gone. Tigerclaw and Fishface have given up a life of hunting us. What other purpose do you have for attacking us?"

Before Rocksteady could utter a word, Bebop replied with a chuckle. "Now why would we tell you? We have a good reason to!"

He snapped his fingers again, and metal, bullets, and lasers attacked them from all sides.

"I thought you knocked these two out!" Leo exclaimed to Raph, as he sliced the head of a footbot off. Raph stabbed a couple of them before replying, "I did! I don't understand. They should be out cold for a few hours!"

Below them, Mikey and Donnie were fighting off the footbots in their narrow, dark room. There was hardly any light to see with, but the room appeared to be some sort of dark, never ending hallway. The footbots just kept coming and coming. The two brothers had to be careful not to hit each other in the cramped hall.

"OW!" Donnie shouted out as he was hit in the face with Mikey's nunchucks. He rubbed the injured spot briefly before stabbing a bot in the face with his bo.

"Oops! Sorry, D!" Mikey shouted as he leaped in the air and kicked a bot in the chest, causing it to crash into the ones behind it. He then pounced on the fallen bots and bashed them with his weapon. The brown eyed turtle then stabbed what appeared to be the last of the bots, and let out a sigh of relief. He wiped his brow and looked at his younger sibling, whom stood up and sighed as well.

"Do you think that's all of them?" The baby blue eyed turtle asked his older sibling. The two turtles turned to look at what would be the end of the hallway, but all they could see was a black void of darkness. For a few moments, they remained like that, weapons ready. However, seeing as nothing was crawling out from the blackness, the two relaxed and proceeded to try to open the trap door above them. Pushing on the door, of course, had no effect, but they tried anyways.

"Hurry, D! We need to get up there with Leo and Raph! Come up with one of your science plan things to open this door!" Mikey exclaimed as he kept pressing up on the door.

"I'm thinking, don't rush me!" Donnie said, as he examined the door, tongue between his teeth. The door's hinges were not visible, and it appeared to be made of some sort of heavy metal, so bashing it would not be a good idea. There was no key to unlock it from their side, so unlocking it was out of the question. They also didn't have anything to cut or melt the door. After inspecting the corners and edges of the door, the gap-toothed turtle noticed some fine wires that were almost unnoticeable due to the darkness, and they ran from the edge of the door, down to the wall on his left. On the wall, there was a very, very small device. Putting two and two together, Donnie realized this door was electrically powered.

"Got it!" He exclaimed and he ran towards the device. All he needed to do was shut it down, or hack into it, and the door would open. He opened an even smaller compartment on the device where there should be wires, however, there was nothing in there.

"Okay…" The purple banded turtle murmured and he turned to the wires running across the low ceiling. He flinched when a rather heavy thud sounded from up above them. Hopefully that was one of the bad guys and not one of his brothers.

Using the sharp point of his bo, he sliced across the wires to cut them all. There was a small clicking sound. Michelangelo was still pressing up on the door with all his might so when the power shut off, the door gave way and he lost his balance and fell to the ground with an "OOF!"

Donatello was momentarily dumbfounded at how easy that had been to open the door, but he quickly recovered. "C'mon, Mikey!" He said and jumped out of the room. Mikey shook himself off and quickly jumped out after his brother.

Raphael was currently fighting off bebop, while Leonardo was currently fighting Rocksteady. However eventually, footbots would get in the way and they would be fighting two different opponents. The orange banded turtle ran to help out his eldest brother, while the purple banded turtle ran to help his immediate older brother. The eldest brothers quickly acknowledged their younger brothers' presence by their side, and continued to fight.

"They just keep coming, Leo!" Raph managed to get out before he ducked as a foot bot sliced its sword where his head had previously been.

"I—WOAH!" Leo shouted as Rocksteady aimed and fired his machine gun right at Leo. The blue banded turtle staggered to the left, which allowed him to barely miss getting injured. More footbots swarmed around him. After slicing them down, he was able to quickly twist to the side and bash Rocksteady on the side of the temple with the blunt part of his katana, therefore knocking the rhino out cold. Before more robots could come in and swarm the blue-eyed turtle, he joined his brothers in their battle against more robots and the pig.

"There can't be many more!" Leo shouted over the noise. Just where did these foot bots keep coming from? How many were there? "Keep fighting!"

Suddenly, a swarm of bots surrounded him and obscured his vision from the rest. From his brother's surprised shouts, he assumed the same happened to them. He growled and began to fight them, slicing off their robotic limbs and heads with one swing of his katanas. Each robot he destroyed was replaced with another.

Bebop, on the other hand, had decided to take the moment of distraction to cloak himself and approach the machine. He turned the machine on and became visible. Chuckling, he aimed the machine at the four turtles who were conveniently close to each other. His grin grew as a ball of white light grew at the blaster's end.

"Goodbye freaks!" He laughed.

At these words, all 4 heads snapped up towards the source of the sound, but it all happened so quickly. Leonardo felt his heart stop. He spun around towards where the voice had come from, however, a foot bot on the floor grabbed his legs and pulled him to the floor. As the eldest turtle fell, he saw a flash of bright white light soar above him before shielding his blue eyes from the light with his arm. As he hit the floor, he heard the screams of his three younger brothers and the sound of robotic parts flying. His blood froze.

"NOO!" he shouted. With his eyes still shut, he swung his katana wildly, slashing and shattering the bots around him. The light suddenly died down and Leo opened his eyes to defeat the remaining bots that were still around. He turned his attention to the three turtles who were on the ground screaming in agony while covering their eyes and clutching their heads.

Rocksteady, who had thrown himself to the floor when the beam had been fired so as to not have gotten hit, stood up with an enraged look on his face. He growled as he approached the mutant pig.

"YOU FOOL!" He roared at Bebop, whom was unfazed from the shout. "What was pig thinking?! I was almost hit!"

The mutant pig scoffed. "At least you weren't hit! And, I managed to hit the turtles!" He turned his attention to the seething rhino in front of him, oblivious to the fact that Leonardo had not been directly hit.

The pig mutant squealed as Rocksteady grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. "Da! But warning would have been nice. Or I would be like the turtle freaks, squirming and screaming lungs out!" He pointed a huge hand towards where the turtles were, or rather, should have been. All that was left were disembodied robot parts.

* * *

Leo had no idea how he was able to drag his three brothers back to the lair but some how he had managed to. He had taken the opportunity to escape when the two animal mutants had been bickering. He laid his brothers down on the floor and fell on his knees, breathing heavily. Donnie, Raph, and Mikey were still whimpering in pain and still clutching their heads. Leo had no idea what was wrong with them, and even if he knew, he wouldn't know medicine to use to cure them. With his heart beating fast, he did the only thing he knew how to do.

"Rin...pyo...to..."

Putting his hands over his brothers, he focused as best as he could to perform the healing incantation to save his brothers from whatever was hurting them.

"Sha...sai...ju..."

 _Sensei please….._

Leo cringed. A white-ish glow surrounded the younger ones, but it flickered and faded.

"R-rin...p-pyo..."

 _Give me the strength to help them…_

 _Don't let them die….._

… _._

 _ **You can't save them.**_

"to..."

 _ **Just like you couldn't save Splinter.**_

His breathing got a little faster. Once again, the glow faded.

"...shaaa..."

The brothers began to wail in agony again.

"SAI...JU..."

 _FOCUS! FOCUS!_

 _ **It's too late for them. You should have listened to yourself.**_

"Zon-rin-pyo-to-"

 _ **They're going to die.**_

"SHA-SAI!"

 _ **They're already-**_

"STOP!"

He opened his eyes and found that he was sweating and breathing heavily. He had to stop letting those thoughts get into his head or else he would not be able to heal his family, and just cause them more pain. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself as best as he could and cleared his mind from unnecessary thoughts.

"Rin...pyo...to..." He began again, and this time in a more calmed fashion. Over and over he repeated those words until he began to hear that their whimpers were dying down into slow, deep breathing. He didn't stop until the last turtle stopped squirming.

Taking a deep breath, the eldest opened his eyes and he looked down at his younger brothers sleeping. He didn't think he had completely healed his brothers but he had at least stopped the pain, so that satisfied Leo just a bit. Plus they were alive and that's all that mattered at the moment. He was at least grateful nothing worse happened.

He grabbed pillows from their rooms and placed it underneath each turtles head so as to make things a bit more comfortable for them. He then went to lay down on the couch for a while, as he was exhausted. Just as he closed his eyes, worry began to creep up his back again. Were his brothers really okay? He had absolutely no idea what that machine had done to his poor brothers. They had sounded as if they had been in so much pain.

Leo suddenly found himself angry at his own self. Why was he so stubborn to not listen to what his instinct had told him?! First time he ignored it, Splinter died. Now, this happened.

No. He WAS about to listen to it when he noticed Raphael had already entered the building. If anything, Raphael was to blame, not him! He had always warned Raphael to follow his orders correctly but the red banded turtle said he was sick of listening to pointless orders and look what happened.

But he was the leader, and he was to be blamed for any actions of his team, even if it wasn't his fault. The blue banded turtle sighed. That still didn't mean Raphael was going to slip by without a lecture.

He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost morning. They would definitely skip training that day. Slowly, sleep began to take over his mind, and he soon fell into unconsciousness.

He dreamed.

 _He was in the lair at the dinner table with his three brothers and his sensei, all of who were just staring down at the table. Immediately he felt his heart warm up at the sight of his father and his breath got caught in his throat._

 _"S-Sensei..." he whispered._

 _His sensei did not look up at him, and remained looking at the table._

 _"Sensei!" He tried again, in case he hadn't heard him. Still, Splinter did not look up. Confused, Leo tried to get up but he found himself unable to do so. Something was holding him down._

 _"Wh-? What's going on?! Guys, I can't move!" Leo cried. Still, his family did nothing. He turned to look at his immediate younger brother whom sat directly next to him._

 _"Raph! I can't move! Help me!"_

 _Raphael did not look at him either. He remained looking at the table. As the blue masked turtle struggled internally to get his body to move, he turned to the two youngest._

 _"Mikey! Donnie!"_

 _The orange and purple banded turtles did not react to the sound of their name. Leo began panicking and tried to move again._

 _"GUYS! Why can't you hear me? Why can't I move?! Sensei! Father, please!" He called out again to his rat master. At the word "father", Splinter finally looked up with sadness in his eyes. "Why call out to me, my son. I am not here, remember? I am dead because of you. Therefore, I cannot help you."_

 _"Wh...no..." Leo shook his head, and before he could utter anything else, Mikey, Raph, and Donnie looked up and stared at him, expressionless._

 _"He's right Leo," Donnie muttered. "How can someone you've killed help you?"_

 _"That's why we can't help you either," Mikey muttered next. Tears welled up in his expressionless eyes. " We're gone too. You killed us, Leo."_

 _"We will never be able to help you again Leo," Raphael whispered. "Do you see what you have done?"_

 _"What...? NO! That's not true! I didn't! I-" Leo began denying, feeling his eyes begin to sting. He still couldn't move._

 _"You've killed us, my son..." Splinter muttered and he suddenly burst into flames and began to cripple away. Leo gave a shout._

 _"NO SENSEI!" The blue banded turtle cried out and visciously tried to move, but he was still paralyzed on the chair. He looked at his brothers whom didn't even acknowledge that their sensei had just burst into flames. Then suddenly, they too burst into flames, yet all they did was stare at him with cold, empty eyes. They began to fade away into nothing, leaving behind an empty chair. Everything was on fire. Leo was choking on the smoke. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't shout. His vision was going black. It was going….it was…_

 _Then, his brothers screamed._

Leo cried out and woke up panting. He found himself sticky with sweat and panting. His heart was racing at a million miles per hour. Panicking, he quickly moved his arms and legs and he found that he was able to do so. Then he turned to look at his unconscious brothers and saw that they were breathing. He breathed a sigh of relief and calmed his beating heart. It was just a dream. No, it had been a nightmare. Something he hadn't had in a very long time. Stretching his arms and legs out, he got up from the couch and saw that it was twelve o'clock pm. He had slept for a while.

The uneasy feeling he had felt last night started to come back to haunt him. Gosh how he wished his brothers could just wake up already. It would make him feel much better to see them walking and talking about. He had no idea what to do at the moment. So he took out his phone to call April, but then hesitated.

Should he call April? She was probably at school right now, and apparently your phone was taken away if it rang in class. Leo didn't want that to happen to her. Perhaps he could wait until it was over. Some time after four or something. So he decided to do that.

He went into the kitchen to look for some tea. He put some water on the stove to heat, and suddenly remembered how his brothers used to make fun of him for burning water. He smiled a little at the memory. It had been pretty embarrassing that he had been the only one to burn water. Eventually he got better at heating water so that he no longer burned it. That and ramen were the only two things he knew how to cook in the kitchen. Well, cooking ramen was the only thing he knew how to cook, since cooking water did not exist.

He grabbed a cup and was about to pour water into the cup when suddenly he began to hear moans coming from the living room. Immediately Leo dropped his cup, letting it shatter to the floor, as he ran towards the source of the noise. When he arrived, he noticed that his brothers were reacting and waking up. Leo felt all kinds of worry leave his body as relief filled his body up. He couldn't help but smile as he quickly grabbed Raph's arm, whom was closest to him.

"Guys! You're awake! Thank goodness, you have no idea how-"

He was cut off by Raphael suddenly smacking his helping arm away. Leo was taken aback. The leader would have understood that Raphael was probably still angry over their little fight and was therefore acting this way, had he not seen how the red masked turtle recoiled back and gave out a shout after seeing his older brother. There was apparent fear in his face as the emerald green eyes began filling up with tears. Soon enough, Michelangelo and Donatello looked up at Leo, and they scrambled away from him, clearly showing that they were scared of him.

"...G-guys?" Leo asked, unsure of what to say. He had never seen them act this way and it was frightening him. He extended a hand towards them and Mikey shrunk back as he shouted out. Quickly he put his arm back down. What was going on?

"Guys, we're safe. We're back at the lair. There's nothing for you to be afraid of! It's me, Leo!" Immediately, Mikey began to bawl in an un-Mikey like fashion. Donnie began to tremble and tears slid down his cheeks. Raph simply stared at him wide eyed and whimpered a little. However, before Leo could say anything more, his world began to wobble on its axis and his vision blurred. The blue-eyed turtle was able to extend his hands and catch himself on the floor before he hit it face first. Behind the blur, he noticed spots appearing on the part of the floor he was staring at, and they were red. Only then he felt something wet and warm slide quickly down his nose and out his mouth. Bringing a hand up to his nose, he realized he was bleeding. But before he could question it, his three brothers suddenly dropped to the ground and began convulsing, their bodies shaking in such a horrific way that Leo knew they were having a seizure. Momentarily forgetting the bleeding, Leo screamed.

Recalling what Donnie had told him so very long ago, he moved them to their sides as best as he could and tried to hold them there. Their bodies shook violently under his hands, and he began to panic even more.

 _"Seisures only last from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Anything more than that can be bad. So it's important to time it."_

 _Leo stared at Donnie's brown eyes. "And what is the purpose of you telling me this?"_

 _The purple banded turtle had shrugged. "Well you never know Leo. It could always happen to one of us. Or April. Usually 911 is dialed if seizures last a long time. We, of course, don't have the physical appearance of a human and therefore cannot be taken to a hospital. Therefore, I am working on something that will be the equivalent of being taken to the hospital. Once it's done, I'll show it to you."_

He never did.

Leo glanced at the clock and noticed that only a couple of seconds had passed by. As the seconds kept adding up Leo began to feel even more worried.

Minutes passed by and their convulsing did not stop.

Leo immediately gabbed his T-phone, found April's phone number, and punched the call button. He didn't care if her phone wasn't allowed to be used in class. He didn't care if the teacher or anyone heard her phone ring. This was an emergency.

* * *

April O'Neil was bored. Not the simple, zoning out bored, but the complete sleeping-in-class-because-it-is-so-boring type of bored. She yawned for what seemed to be like the 100th time that hour and she lazily glanced at the clock with her head in her arms. It had only been 20 minutes since class began, and there was still at least another 30 to go. She sighed. Her blue eyes darted back to the elderly teacher teaching them history of the ancients. It wasn't that history was very uninteresting, it was just not really her thing. She preferred science.

She quickly sat up from her slouched position when she felt a vibration in her pocket, followed by another. She quickly looked around to make sure no one had noticed before glancing to see who was calling her. It was Leo. The red haired human frowned. The guys knew better than to call her during school hours, so this was either an emergency, or a prank. However, she had a feeling it was the former.

"Um, Mr. Kandell?" April said, raising her hand up. The elderly teacher stopped his teaching to look at the young girl, a bit irritated. All others turned to look at her as well.

"Yes, April?"

"May I please go to the bathroom?"

Mr. Kandell sighed and pointed a wrinkling finger to a paper slip on his desk. "Go ahead and grab the pass from my desk. And come back quickly, as this information will be on the exam."

"Thank you!"

As fast as she could, without making it look weird, the human psychic grabbed her bag and the slip from the desk. She was thankful that her teacher always had a slip ready for any student that wanted to leave the class for an approved reason. Reason why this was so was because Mr. Kandell hated stopping his lectures and writing a pass that took up to one minute to write sometimes.

Running into the bathroom, she saw that Leo was calling again. The gut feeling that said something was wrong was growing stronger. Sighing in relief that the bathroom was empty, she chose the stall at the very end and answered the phone.

"...Hello?"

April nearly dropped her phone in shock as she heard Leo's voice scream her name in the most anxious/terrified/loudest tone she had ever heard him use.

" _APRIL!_ "

 **And wellllllllll there you have it! I did use one OC, Mr. Kandell, but he's only gonna appear in this chapter. I won't deny I have mentally written stories with me as an OC with the turtles, but I hate OC's because I feel like they ruin what should be an awesome story. Unless they are very awesome too x) I also hope this chapter didn't feel rushed! I'm not great with fighting scenes either, so, sorry if that was poorly written! Well, I hope you folks enjoyed this chappie, and perhaps I'll write another one soon! Let me know of any errors I may have made and I'll change that! Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi ppls! So I'm so sorry I was unable to get this next chapter out earlier. My laptop died. Turns out the hard drive got fried and I had to get a new one. After several weeks, my laptop was fixed, but all my data from the old hard drive, including ideas for this story, were unacessable, and so now, I must begin new again**

 **Its ok though! Nothing like a new start! And who knows, I may end up getting better ideas for this than the ones I already had planned!**

 **Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed, favorited, and are following this story! I honestly didn't expect to get any reads from this! Yes, after re-reading my last chapter I did see I messed up on the part where Rocksteady is supposed to be knocked out but he was fighting when Bebop fired the lazer. Oops! I guess I belong on the Nick TMNT board of directors and story writers since they often forget things when writing the episodes (*cough*Season 3 ending*cough*Mikey and Casey reaction after earth destroyed*cough**cough*) Haha but I still loved that ending!**

 **But all jokes aside, here is chapter 2! This chapter is a bit slow, not much action. Just warning you guys! And sorry for all the rambling!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not, in any way or form, own the exsistence of Nickelodeon's TMNT characters, or in any other TMNT, ever.**

Using her psychic powers, April was able to exit the school undetected. She had been able to "disable", or rather, break, the school cameras while remaining out of sight so that no footage of her leaving, and using her powers, would have been recorded. Once all cameras had been out of commission, she activated the fire alarm system using her psychic ability and quickly ran out of the doors. By doing this, she would have an excuse for having had gone "missing". She would simply explain to her teacher or the principal that she had been in the bathroom when the fire alarm went off, and this had startled her, causing her to run out of the building and go some distance away. She didn't know what else she would say after this, but that matter was for the next day. At the moment, she needed to focus on getting to the turtle's lair.

The red-haired girl reached a familiar alleyway with a manhole in the middle of it. The alley was empty.

Good.

Having had done this millions of times, she sprinted to the manhole cover and expertly slid underneath the lid, and climbed down the ladder. The familiar odor of the sewer immediately reached her nose and stung her sinuses briefly, but quickly went away. After having had visited the turtles so many times, she had gotten used to the smell. Or, as her favorite nerdy turtle would say, she had "habituated".

April let out a brief chuckle before her smile faded into a worried line. She remembered her "conversation" with Leo not too long ago. She had never heard him as desperate as he had been during the phone call.

" _L-Leo? What's wrong?"_

" _I-I…they…..I need help!"_

" _Wh-"_

" _Come! Come quickly, please!"_

And the line had been cut off there. The desperation in his voice alone had been enough to get her out of her confusion. Though he didn't mention where he was, she knew he meant the lair. But when she got there, she didn't know what to expect. Had someone gotten badly hurt? Did someone…...?

No. They couldn't have. But still. Something was gnawing at the back of her brain as she briskly walked along the "sidewalk" of the sewers. Once she had almost reached the lair, she sensed something….off. In a panic, she ran towards the home of the ninja turtles.

She had entered the lair hundreds of times before. It had always been a welcoming sight, and she always loved to glance around the home as soon as she entered. But this time, her focus was on three turtles laying on the ground, twitching occasionally, and one turtle looking over them, while glancing at the clock on the wall. His back was facing her.

"Oh….OH MY GOODNESS WHAT HAPPENED?!" Was the first thing that escaped the lips of the red-haired girl. The blue banded turtle whirled around so fast that his bandana tails hit his face. It would have been comical in other circumstances. Leo's eyes were wide in a panic, and he appeared to be shaking slightly. Tear stains were apparent on his mask.

The blue masked turtle stumbled towards her as he tried to form words, but all that came out were squeaky, uncomprehendble words. Finally, he sighed and shook his head, and he was able to utter the words, "I…I don't know."

April went around him and knelt down to observe the other turtles. She first stopped by Donatello. The braniac was on his side, with his eyes semi-open, and his hand kept twitching occasionally. She gave him a concerned look. Mikey and Raph were the same way. After standing back up, she looked back at Leo, whom had not moved during this process.

"What happened to them? What caused them to get like this?" The blue-eyed girl asked as she walked back to the leader.

Leo frantically shook his head back and forth. "We….it was some sort of machine. Bebop….and Rocksteady…..and the footbots! The machine fired this….beam thing and it hit them. I was pushed away from them and I couldn't protect them. I brought them home while they were unconscious. After they woke up they began convulsing and having seizures. I…." He then smashed his hand against the wall in anger. The wall cracked and Leo grunted briefly in pain. "I knew we shouldn't have gone!"

Though he only provided her with fragments, April was able to piece together what had happened. She put a hand on his shoulder, which was shaking. New fresh tears stained his blue bandana and fell onto the floor. The sight tore her heart.

"Why, April?" He whispered. "Why am I such an awful leader? I can't even protect my brothers. I couldn't protect my father."

April looked away. It had been so long since anyone had mentioned Splinter to her. Leo was still so young. Younger than her by one year. To have his father taken away from him like that, and have all burden Splinter had placed on him was just so unfair. And now he was scared and worried for his brothers.

"Leo," She began, and pulled him into a firm hug. "Don't ever think of yourself as an awful leader. You tried your best to save Splinter. If anyone is to blame, it should be me. I was up there. But when Shredder injured me, I was unable to focus my powers on him. And so I decided to take care of Raph and make sure Shredder didn't come near him. That was the best I could do. I'm sorry.

"N-no! I've told you before, April. Don't ever blame yourself! No one knew it would happen—"

"Exactly," The blue-eyed girl smiled shakily. "No one knew. And though you may say your 'instinct' told you something was bound to go wrong, instincts can be wrong. Look at me. I never would have known what would have happened to Splinter that night, and I'm part psychic." She laughed weakly. "But I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't blame yourself for Splinter, nor what happened to your brothers. Though I don't really know the situation that happened, I'm sure you did your best to protect them. And that is what matters. Now all we can do is wait and see what happens. Their minds appear to be resting and at ease, so don't worry."

The human felt the turtle relax just the tiniest bit. When she inspected the turtles, she sensed that they were at ease, as if sleeping. However there had been something else she had sensed. Something, empty. But she didn't want to worry Leo at the moment.

Leo pulled away from the hug and gave April a tired, shaky smile. "Thanks April." He murmured. "I'm so sorry I had to get you out of school. I just…..I just didn't know what to do. They actually were unconscious when I dragged them back to the lair, but they woke up once, and they acted very weird. Almost like they didn't know me nor anything else." Worry began to form in his eyes again.

April frowned. "So they had woken up once before?"

"Yes. And that's when they began to have seizures. And it just wouldn't stop. That's when I called you. The seizures had just finished as soon as you got here."

The human girl furrowed her brow even more. "Then that's…..that's almost 20 minutes!" The tone in her voice made Leo worry once again. She noticed this and quickly said, "The good thing is that it is over and hasn't come back! Hopefully the worst is over with. Like I said before, now all we do is wait. Then once they wake up, Donnie can figure out what hit them!" Leo simply nodded absentmindedly.

The psychic inwardly sighed. No matter how convincing she had tried to seem, her solution was not a good one. It was not at all credible. A seizure for that long could have caused major brain damage. April was no expert on the brain, but even she knew about that. And if she did, Leo did too. But what else could she have said? She needed something, anything, to make Leo forget worrying.

"Let's go and watch some TV for now yeah? I believe there is going to be re-runs of the original Space Heroes in a couple of minutes! And I'll take some tea!"

The blue banded turtle looked at her, then back at his brothers, then he sighed. "I guess there's no use in worrying right now, if there's nothing I can do in the moment."

"Exactly! And, we can keep an eye on them from the living room! Go turn on the TV. I will be right there!"

The teenage girl kept smiling as best as she could as Leo left to the "living room" somewhat reluctantly. Quickly, she turned to the kitchen and let out a breath of air she didn't realize she had been holding. That had been such a horrible excuse to keep Leo from worrying more than he had to. Hopefully it worked. She heard the television turn on.

There was a shattered cup on the floor with liquid splattered all over. Leo must have been trying to make himself tea earlier that morning. Quickly, she cleaned up the mess and proceeded to warm some water. The tea leaves were nowhere to be found, so she decided to use the tea bags, despite Leo's hate for, as he called it, "automatic tea". Once the water was hot enough, but not boiling, she poured the scalding liquid into two mugs with tea bags and she firmly grasped both handles as she made her way to the living room. Leo was "watching" the television, though in all reality, April could tell his thought were far from the cartoon.

"Here," She set the steaming mug down next to him, and she took a seat on his other side. Leo mumbled a small "thanks" and top a sip of tea. He frowned and turned to look at the girl. "Really?" He said, holding up the tea bag. April shrugged and gave him a small chuckle.

"Oh come on. I couldn't find the leaves. Give a girl a break here!"

Leo grunted and continued to drink his tea. There was silence after that, with the exception of the television. After about 10 minutes, a faint noise came from their left. Immediately, Leo stood up and ran to his brothers. April put her cup down and followed suit.

"Guys!" The eldest turtle shouted in relief as he saw his younger brothers stirring. Raphael was the first to speak.

"Ugh…What….what happened? This headache feels like its breaking my skull apart."

"RAPH!" Leo exclaimed and went to hug his immediate younger brother. Raphael groaned in protest and mumbled something about getting back to sleep. Donnie and Mikey were the next to become conscious and they too began whining about a huge headache. Leo immediately went to hug them, while crying tears of joy. April stood to the side all this while, not wanting to interrupt their little "reunion". She was glad the turtles were ok. But still. She couldn't shake that "empty" feeling away.

"Whoa dude, those better be tears that are falling on my back!" Mikey said in disgust. Leo was currently hugging him tightly while crying. "Why are you crying though, bro?"

Leo let go of him and wiped his eyes. "I thought I had lost you guys! I don't know what the beam did to you, but you guys seemed to be in a lot of pain. I tried to help calm it down, and it seemed like the pain went down, but then you guys woke up and didn't seem to recognize me. Then you began shaking as if having some sort of seizure. And It just wouldn't stop. For about 20 minutes."

"20 whole minutes?!" Donnie exclaimed. "I do remember being hit by the beam, but I don't remember waking up, nor the seizure. But that could have caused some cerebral damage. I should conduct some tests as soon as possible."

"You said a beam hit us. I don't remember that either," Raph said as he rubbed his head.

"Ah, it must have been an incidence when the most recent memories before the insult to the brain are the ones that are wiped out. This is known as the term, retrosplineal amnesia!" Donnie chirped.

"Umm," April cut in. "Don't you mean, 'retrograde amnesia'? I remember you mentioned it to me once."

The purple banded turtle frowned in thought and came to a realization a couple of seconds later. "Oh. Yeah. Hah! That's what I meant!"

"Blah, blah, blah," The green eyed turtle mocked as he rolled his eyes. "Who cares about all these sciency terms. What matters is that we are fine. Nothing happened to us, and we probably had some side effect thing from the beam. SO fearless leader over there can stop his crying."

"Wait." All eyes focused on the eldest of the brothers. "So you guys don't feel anything different? You guys aren't concerned that beam did something to you?

The three younger brothers looked at each other. The youngest decided to speak. "Well, I mean. I feel fine. I'm pretty sure Donnie and Raph do too." Said turtles nodded in agreement. "I don't see why we need to worry. You need to chillax, brah."

"Besides," The intellect added, "I am going to scan myself, Raph, and Mikey just in case. But in the meantime, don't stress yourself too much. We are fine!"

"Aww. Do I really need to go and get scanned?" The baby-blue eyed turtle whined.

"Yes, Mikey. It's crucial. C'mon Raph."

The green eyed turtle was about to turn to leave, but suddenly said, "Wait, what about Leo?"

This caused the smart turtle to stop in his tracks and turn to face the leader, who replied, "I didn't get hit with the beam, so I don't need scanning."

Donatello eyed Leo, about to agree with the eldest's response, until he noticed a dry, yet faint trace of something dark red from the turtle's nose and mouth. "Leo? What is that?" He stepped closer to the leader.

Leo took a step back from every step Donnie moved forward. He knew exactly what his younger brother was talking about. It really wasn't anything to worry about, as the bleeding had stopped, so he didn't want to worry them unnecessarily. "It's nothing. I just got hit in the face during our battle."

"I should still check for a broken nose and teeth. So come with us."

Seeing as there was no way to back out, Leo followed his brothers into the lab.

…

The blue banded turtle couldn't help but notice that Donnie seemed distracted. Or, something else. But he appeared to be very clumsy while searching for his scanning device.

"Now I know I left it here! I just used it a couple of days ago!" The purple banded turtle exclaimed as he tore open a drawer and shuffled the contents inside, causing a flood of papers to tumble out. He didn't bother collecting them. He shut the drawer halfway and forced another one open. Instantly, his eyes lit up. "Aha! Found it!" He didn't close the drawer.

The genius turtle went to Mikey first, whom was bouncing with anticipation to leave the place. Donnie shook the device, and stuck his tongue out. "Huh? I don't understand." He poked and prodded multiple buttons until it eventually made a beeping noise. "Okay, got it!"

The purple banded turtle scanned the youngest from head to toe, left and right. The device gave a satisfied _BEEP!_ Before the device was laid to rest on top of the baby-blue eyed turtle. After another _BEEP!,_ Donatello dismissed the youngest of the group.

"Aww yeah!" Mikey cheered. He turned to Leo. "See? Nothing to worry about bro! Now, I don't know about you guys, but getting hit with the beam made me hungry! I'm about to go and make us some of my favorite ramen with sprinkles and jellybeans!" He danced out of the lab, while humming an unfamiliar tune. The last thing he said before disappearing out of sight was, "Yo, ice cream kitty, give me two cheescicles!"

"Bleh, not that again," Raph whined as he was getting scanned. "He's been making that same recipe for over a week. And its gross. I'd rather have our old worms and algae again." He slapped the machine out of his face when Donnie moved it too close to his eye. Said turtle frowned and almost dropped the device.

"Hey, don't do that!" The gap-toothed turtle scolded. He continued the same routine he did to Michelangelo, until both beeps were heard. "Alright Raph, I found nothing wrong. So the test is over!"

"Finally!" Raphael exclaimed. Not wanting to be in the lab any longer, he left without another word. Donatello finally turned to Leo. The eldest had been quiet the entire time. But he had been observing. Observing the behavior of his brothers, but there had been no significant changes. The intellect gave his eldest brother a soft smile. "See Leo? Nothing to worry about. Like Raph said, it may have been a side effect. Besides, when have Bebop and Rocksteady built something that works?"

Leo sighed. "But it wasn't something they built. You probably didn't get a good look at it since you got trapped underground, but it definitely looked something that belonged to the Shredder. You're probably right though. I just worry so much. After all, I'm responsible for the safety of all of you."

"Yes, you do worry too much," He smirked. "But for the hundredth, millionth time, we are completely fine. I found nothing wrong on my scanner for both Raph and Mikey. As for me…" he quickly performed the scanning action on himself. Two beeps were heard. "I am fine as well. Does that make you feel better?"

"…Yes. A bit."

That answer was enough to satisfy Donatello. He scanned Leo, and found a small crack on his nasal bone, which he treated with a special medicine. After the blue banded turtle was patched up, both turtles strolled into the kitchen to join the other two turtles and the human girl that had stayed for dinner. All the laughter that ensued during that dinner erased most worries the dark-blue eyed turtle had. After all, they had gotten through worse, yet ended up fine the next day. So why should this incident have been any different?

The next several days passed normally. The turtles woke up, trained, did their usual things, and patrolled at night. The incident at Shredder's old lair had almost been forgotten.

Almost.

 **Welp. There's chapter 2! Bleh. Haha. I know. Not the best chapter. And not the best ending either, but I feel like what comes next should have its own chapter. And no, don't worry. This will not become a LeoxApril love story. Sorry for those that hoped for this! I see Leo and April as having a brother and sister relationship. Anyways, this story is definitely not over yet. I plan to probably do around 10 chappies? It could come out more or less, depending on how much I write in each chapter. Do you guys preffer long-ish chapters, or shorter ones? Let me know! And please review!**


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